• Iona - MNK4
• Fandillas - Elf FTR5/MAG5
• Lazathu - Henchman MAG1
• Elias
• Elgin Proudhill - Halfling THF1 AC 6/8 MV 12“ Doors 1-2 Listen 1-3 13, 12, 11, 16, 16, 13 hp 4 NG
• Randimir - CLR / MAG

• Treasure Map: Leads to a Dragon's Cave. In order to reach the location we must travel a long distance into the mountains to the north west. About 50 miles west of Great Hill and tucked away is a cave that leads to some winding tunnels. The map leads inside to a back chamber complex that is hidden. There is a sign that we must make against a wall of stone to access the location.

We are looking to hire some Mercenaries in Starling:

• 5 Light Horsemen - Studded Leather Armor and Shield, Crossbow, Military Pick, 1d4+3 hp - Randimir hires them, Iona contributed 200 gp.

The plan is to follow the Treasure Map to the lair of the Red Dragons located in the mountains north west of Great Hill.

The party sets out west from Starling and heads around the Monastery of the Red Sun.

On day one, the map has us going along the way we have revealed previously. We are traveling over a flat terrain and will travel about 50 miles distance per day. We estimate that there are about 146 miles of total distance from Starling to our destination.

We can only see 3 miles beyond but with the height of the hills we can see a bit farther. We are revealing hexes along the way as Horus the Hawk Familiar guides us. We see hills and badlands as we go that are uninhabited. In the next hex are some more plains that are uninhabited followed by some scrub that contains no visible structures.

To the hills on the west, we notice a tower built on a hill. It appears to be a regular type of tower that is smaller than a full sized castle but is more than 3 or 4 stories tall.

We come across another structure in the scrub hex that is north of the tower. It is a small walled castle with a keep and it appears to be in good repair! It is in better condition than the tower. The castle is flying a banner but we cannot tell what it is.

For the first night, we set up camp in the wilderness. Iona keeps watch with a Light Horsemen. The evening passes without issue…

On day two, we pass through some rough terrain. We can travel about 25 miles per day now through scrubland. There are no encounters until we reach the area three hexes south of Great Hill. We see more hills to the left and the hills descend into a forest to the right. There are no structures within.

Fandillas is keeping watch in the evening but we must roll surprise for his Hawk Familiar.

Horus the Hawk is not surprised but Fandillas IS surprised!

The Hawk looks up and see amongst the shadows the wings of four great flying beasts descending upon the camp. They are just outside the firelight and the flying movement is 6” per segment. They are dive bombing Fandillas.

THERE IS AN ALERT FROM THE SKIES.

The group is alerted to the beasts in the air. Randimir only has to sleep for 2 hours due to his RING OF SUSTENANCE.

Fandillas casts Mirror Image and gets one Mirror Image. We see that there are some Griffons divebombing our Horses.

Lazathu's Horse takes 17 damage and another 3 of the Horses take 1 and 7 damage, then 10 and 15 damage.

One of the Horses is dead. And then shortly, there is another one dead. Lazathu's Horse is dead.

• Lazathu now has the Wand of Fear to aim at the Griffons.
• Iona shoots her crossbow.
• Elias shoots a poisoned bolt.
• Randimir casts Stinking Cloud.
• Fandillas casts Magic Missile.

Iona misses with her shot while Elgin hits for 4 damage. They have AC 3.

The Stinking Cloud spell goes off and will force the Griffons to make poison saves (10). Two of the Griffons fail their saves and are now helpless. The one that succeeded is helpless for only one round. They will also be nauseated for a 1d4+1 round duration.

The Stinking Cloud lasts for 4 rounds. In the next round, the Griffons will need a Morale Check. The 3 Griffons lift off the ground with the corpse of a Horse and fly up and out of the cloud. They fly up at 30“ per round.

All four of the Griffons flew away.

Randimir heals one of the Horses for 7 damage and then we travel further north through the scrublands.

We come across a herd of animals that appear to be docile up ahead. They are grazing in the grasses. It appears to be a large herd of Sheep with Shepherds.

Iona rides up to them to ask the about news of the area. They tell us that they are Shepherds from Great Hill and that there is no good grazing closer to the village.

We ask about news of the Dragons to the west…in particular, news about a Red Dragon.

He says, “Lathan'eel is the name of the Dragon. He and his brood still reign over the mountains and no one has yet usurped them. There has been only one single attack where over half the village was destroyed in the flames. It was said to be a fairly large Dragon.”

We ask the Shepherd about Apefang Maw, a place we only passed by but did not engage with. “Nobody has gone to Apefang Maw this year. A group of adventurers have gone in that direction but the Warriors and Witch Doctors of Great Hill are powerful and protect the village from incursions from Apefang Maw.”

Great Hill is a village of Tribesmen and it is protected by a log palisade. The walls get rebuilt after the Dragon attacks. Chief BELGIGO and NODO THE QUICK (the Chief Witch Doctor) are the leaders of the Tribe at Great Hill.

We arrive at Great Hill and are welcomed in.

The first order of business, we ask them about Horses for sale. Although they do not have trained Horses, they can sell us Wild Horses. They happily accept the payment and we get Horses for all the characters that lost their Horses to the Griffons. The villagers are excited about the money we have.

The site of the Treasure Map is about 50 miles distant from Great Hill. We attempt to hire someone to lead us, as a guide, into the mountains but they will not go. The Tribesmen have a great fear of it.

Talking amongst the locals, we hear that a powerful Wizard lives in the Tower that we passed, along the way to the south.

After finishing our business in Great Hill, we plan to head out the next morning.

On day three, we head out from Great Hill.

A SURPRISE ROLL MUST BE MADE FOR FANDILLAS' HAWK.

We travel to the west. Horus raises the alarm as he sees a group of large creatures carrying themselves heavily. Are they Giants? Maybe. Ogres. YES, they were Ogres moving north.

The Large Humanoids do not cross our path.

We reach the foothills of the mountains.

The party has passed through mostly hills but we did go down into a plain to the north west. We also pass through a marshland and find a pond in the marsh.

These mountains stretch north and south and we are in the complete wilderness. There are no structures or ruins through here.

It will take us about four full days of travel through the mountains as the terrain is difficult to navigate. The party will travel 5 miles per day, traveling through the least difficult passes. Based on the map, the party believes that we will arrive tomorrow afternoon.

Lazathu has about a 75% loyalty.

We come to the entrance indicated on the map which appears to have never been used. It is 10' wide at the entranceway.

• Iona lights a torch.
• Lazathu has a bullseye lantern.

The cavern drops into stones and then opens up into a stony cavern. There are some minor decreases in the natual steps with layers of slate piled up all around.

The Treasure Map indicates that we go to the south.

The air in here is dead quiet. Iona looks in the chamber for any sign of life and finds the telltale signs of some burrowing animals but no indication of a nest. This is a very dry cave with a 25' tall ceiling and very spacious. It is somewhat tight in some of the passageways.

We head south and the air stays quiet, with no signs of animals. There are only occasional regular-sized beetles crawling around but the place looks to have been undisturbed for a very long time. No animals have passed into this part of the cave.

We eventually arrive at the end of the cavern and find a large chamber around a bend. This appears to be the area indicated on the map where one of the walls requires the use of some hand signs.

Iona sneaks up ahead…nevermind, she cant surprise anything with a torch. Elgin sneaks up with his infravision.

Fandillas and Elgin sneak up and see only blackness. There is a natural stone staircase going up but we cannot see anything inside here. We can feel the steps leading upward.

Elgin falls back 60' behind the party to get the effects of infravision, possibly one of the first times we have actually tried to use this as a group. Unfortunately, he does not see anything even with infravision at it only detects heat signatures. We take the steps upwards and find ourselves next to a thin ledge.

We are looking over an open space. The ledge is 30' high which is barely enough room to walk upright. The lantern shines down 30' and illuminates a great RED DRAGON, somehow this was not seen with infravision. The Dragon had a 20% chance to be sleeping and it was.

We are not surprised.

The Red Dragon is large and is BIGGER than the Green Dragon we faced in the Marble Keep.

We rolled a 6 on Inititative!

The group flees and now we go to indoor pursuit rules.

Randimir has a 9” movement. Meanwhile, Elgin attempts to hide inside the cave.

As we flee out of the cave entrance, the Red Dragon breaks out of the cave and sees Elgin hiding in a crevasse. The Dragon exhales smoke at him.

We make it back to Great Hill after being pursued but then eventually, we evade the Dragon.

There is no XP earned this session.